ai4bharat/Pralekha huggingface dataset:
Competition Commission of India
CCI penalises firms found guilty of bid rigging and cartelization in Indian Railways tenders
The Competition Commission of India  issued a final order today against seven  companies/ firms which were found to have contravened the provisions of Sections 3, 3, 3 and 3 read with Section 3 of the Competition Act, 2002 , which proscribe anti-competitive agreements.
The case was initiated on the basis of a lesser penalty application filed by one of the cartelising entities. Under Section 46 of the Act, a cartel member may approach the Commission by way of filing an application seeking lesser penalty, in return for providing full, true and vital disclosures in respect of the alleged cartel to the Commission.
CCI found these seven  companies/ firms to have indulged in cartelisation in the supply of Protective Tubes to the Indian Railways by means of directly or indirectly determining prices, allocating tenders, controlling supply and market, co-ordinating bid prices and manipulating the bidding process. The evidence in the matter included regular e-mail communications between the parties and filing of bids from same IP addresses by certain parties etc.
Further, ten  individuals of these seven  entities were also held by the CCI to be liable for the anti-competitive conduct of their respective companies/ firms, in terms of the provisions of Section 48 of the Act.
CCI imposed penalties @5% of the average turnover/ income upon the companies/ firms and their certain individuals found guilty of violating the provisions of the Act. However, benefit of reduction in penalty under the provisions of Section 46 of the Act of 100% was given to the lesser penalty applicant. Post reduction, CCI directed the parties to pay penalties totaling to approx. INR 30 lacs, besides issuing a cease-and-desist order.
The order was passed in Suo Motu Case No. 06 of 2020 and a copy of the order is available at CCI website at www.cci.gov.in.
Office of Principal Scientific Advisor to GoI
COVID- Disinfection in Varanasi using special Drones
Invest India, India’s National Investment Promotion Agency have closely collaborated through the AGNI Mission, and Invest India’s Business Immunity Platform  - to facilitate the use of specially designed drones to support Covid-19 disinfection in Varanasi.
The Government’s Covid-19 strategies align with global best practice: protecting Indians against Covid-19, by minimising their chances of catching it. To boost local authority capacities in achieving this, the Government is leveraging the power of technology.
Drones offer an answer. Using drones, authorities could spray disinfectant over large, crowded, vulnerable urban areas: protecting city-dwellers from Covid-19, while reducing human contact to keep frontline workers safe.
Helping Garuda Aerospace, a Chennai-based drone startup, respond to Varanasi’s interest in such disinfection: the team worked with Central, State, and local government authorities to help get Garuda’s technologies and personnel to Varanasi. The team monitored and supported every step of this exercise: helping Government and innovator collaborate to fight Covid-19 together.
Drone operations in Varanasi have just commenced. The team will now extend similar capabilities to more cities across India.
This forms part of a wider effort to use innovative technology, via Government-innovator collaboration, to reinforce Indian authorities’ fight against Covid-19.
Special Service and Features
Rozgar Mela is a reflection of the Prime Minister's vision that development should reach all parts of the country equally
Kochi: June 12, 2023
Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Shri A Narayanaswamy said that Rozgar Mela was a reflection of the Prime Minister's vision that development should reach all parts of the country equally. The Union Minister was addressing the gathering after inaugurating an event organized by State Level Bankers Committee as part of the national level Rozgar Mela at Gangotri Kalyana Mandapam in Kochi today.
Shri A Narayanaswamy asserted that the country with its new policies had created an ecosystem for entrepreneurship and employment. Various initiatives of the Government including the flagship programmes like Digital India and Smart City Mission etc had significantly contributed towards generating employment opportunities. The Union Minister further added that time-bound procedures were in progress to achieve the target of 10 lakh appointments within a year. To boost the induction of youngsters in a faster manner, the Minister added that various steps were being taken to reduce the time of the recruitment process.
Stating that it was a special day for the youngsters of the country, Shri Narayanaswamy said that the Rozgar Mela was giving youngsters an opportunity to be part of the development of the country.
Rozgar Mela was held at 43 locations across the country today. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi distributed appointment letters to 70,000 newly inducted recruits via video conferencing and also addressed these appointees on the occasion. In the Rozgar Mela event organised in Kochi, the participants witnessed the live webcast of the programme. During the programme, appointment letters were handed over to 184 newly inducted recruits in total and Shri A Narayanaswamy handed over appointment letters to 25 candidates.
Candidates are appointed in Indian Railways, NPOL , Department of Posts, Income Tax Department, Canara Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, Union Bank of India, UCO Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, KGB, SIDBI, SBI, Central Bank of India, etc.
In the Rozgar mela event held in Thiruvananthapuram, Union Minister of State for Skill Development & Entrepreneurship and Electronics & IT Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar inaugurated the event and appointment letters were handed over to 105 newly inducted recruits in total.
RRTN/SKY
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Ministry of Women and Child Development
NIPCCD organizes Two days training programme on “Poshan Bhi Padhai Bhi” for State Level Master Trainers  of Telangana
National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development  organized two Days Training Programme on “Poshan Bhi Padhai Bhi” for State Level Master Trainers  of Telangana from 22 - 23 August, 2023 at NIPCCD Regional Centre, Bengaluru. As many as 20 Participants attended the Programme.
Ministry of Micro,Small & Medium Enterprises
PURCHASE OF HANDLOOM
The Central Government, through administrative instructions, has reserved all items of hand spun and hand-woven textiles  for exclusive purchase from Khadi and Village Industries Commission . Of all items of textiles required by Central Government departments, it shall be mandatory to make procurement of at least 20% from amongst items of handloom origin, for exclusive purchase from KVIC and/or Handloom Clusters such as Co-operative Societies, Self Help Group Federations, Joint Liability Group , Producer Companies, Corporations etc. including Weavers having Pehchan Cards.
KVIC has been supplying the khadi products under Rate Contract  and Non Rate Contract  through Directorate General of Supplies & Disposals  till 30th June, 2017 to various Central/State Govt. Departments such as Railways, Defence, Health and family Welfare Departments, Paramilitary forces etc. With the introduction of GeM portal from 1st July, 2018, KVIC has uploaded 26 varieties of khadi items on the GeM portal.
During 2020-21, khadi products valued at Rs.50.24 Crores were supplied by KVIC to various Government Ministries/Departments.
As per the GeM portal, in the year 2021-22 , khadi products constituted 96% of the total textiles purchased through the GeM portal by various Ministries/Departments of Central/State Governments. The details of procurement of khadi products by various Ministries/Departments of Centre /States through the GeM portal in the year 2021-22 is provided at Annexure.
Annexure
Annexure referred to in reply to part  and  of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 1430 for answer on 10.02.2022
Details of sale of khadi products by various Ministries/Departments of Centre /States through the GeM portal in the year 2021-22 
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Ministry/State
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Order Value

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Ministry of Railways
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318210323
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|
Ministry of Coal
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305963
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|
Ministry of Power
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|
153792
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|
Ministry of Home Affairs
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|
60000
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|
Ministry of Education
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|
94240
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|
Ministry of Tourism
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34500
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|
Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation
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|
30000
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|
Ministry of Commerce and Industry
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|
36000
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|
Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation
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14070
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|
Woman Welfare Department, Uttar Pradesh
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22373
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Uttar Pradesh
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40531
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Estate  Department, Uttar Pradesh
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3243
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Medical Health And Family Welfare Department, Uttar Pradesh
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64850
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Total Khadi products sales
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319069885
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Total textiles sales including khadi products
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333549581
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% of Khadi to total textiles sales
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96%
This information was given by Union Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Shri Narayan Rane in a written reply in Lok Sabha.
MJPS
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NITI Aayog
Atal Innovation Mission reveals Top 300 Teams of the ATL Marathon 2020
After a successful completion and a record-breaking participation from young innovators across the country, the Atal Innovation Mission , NITI Aayog declared the results of its flagship national annual innovation challenge ‘ATL Marathon 2020’ today
The Marathon witnessed over 1000 Atal Tinkering Labs participating from across the country from which 300 top innovators were selected and top 10 teams from each state that participated in the Marathon of ATL Marathon 2020 were also announced today. This year, AIM has received almost 5 times as many submissions as compared to the previous years. ATL Marathon 2020 witnessed over 7200 innovations from 32 states and 324 districts. This Marathon also had a heartening participation of over 57% from girl students.
ATL Marathon is a flagship competition for AIM where Atal Innovation Mission brings in a new theme every year for innovators under which students with the help of their ATL in-charges and mentors carefully research, ideate, innovate and implement their innovations over a period of 6 months. The top students then get a chance to undergo the Student Internship Program  with AIM’s corporate partners and incubation centres to further enhance and hone their skills and prototypes.
With an ambitious resolve to “Research, Ideate, Innovate, implement – Mindful Innovation for the greater good”, this year’s Marathon theme was aligned with Atmanirbhar Bharat.
While announcing the winners virtually, Mission Director AIM, Dr. Chintan Vaishnav congratulated the winners and said that the most promising of these students will go on to attend the Student Entrepreneurship program  which is a 11-month long bootcamp to take their innovations to the market. We have had students going on to create start-ups and even making their products available on popular e-commerce sites.
“Through this journey I want to highlight an important fact – The young generation of our country is coming together to solve problems of their community. These are steps in the right direction to truly create an Atmanirbhar Bharat,” he added.
He said, “Marathon was unique for its idea of Atmanirbhar Bharat, for its execution and most importantly because the COVID-19 pandemic forced us all to adapt and be flexible in our innovations. Though the circumstances were unfortunate I believe it taught all of us an important lesson – One must be agile and learn to adapt to ever changing circumstances without losing your vision along the way.”
Ministry of Culture
Prayagraj Kumbh concludes with the bathing festival of Maha Shivratri
About two months long Prayagraj Kumbh has successfully concluded with it's sixth bathing festival of Maha Shivratri. The Prayagraj Kumbh attracted more than 24 crore bathers on different bathing festivals including Makar Sankranti, Paush Purnima, Mauni Amavasya, Vasant Panchami, Maghi Purnima and Maha Shivratri. For the first time in the history of Prayagraj Kumbh, an unprecedented rush of devotees was witnessed throughout the Mela period.
Maha Shivratri, sixth and the last bathing festival of Prayagraj Kumbh, was celebrated yesterday with religious fervour and enthusiasm. Large number of devotees thronged the Sangam the confluence of rivers Ganga, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati braving cold and rains from mid night. Prayagraj Mela Authority has said that above one core 10 lakhs devotees took holy dip on the occasion. Mela administration had developed about eight kilometers long eight ghats at Sangam and other areas of the Mela for pilgrims. 27 Special trains and thousands of buses were put into service to ferry the devotees. Elaborate security arrangements were in place in and around the Mela area. Several dignitaries including Union and State Ministers took holy dip on the occasion.
Mela was spread over 3200 hectares of land and divided into 20 sectors. 20 pantoon bridges were erected on the river Ganga to connect the different sectors. For the first time Prayagraj Kumbh successfully put its name in Guinness Book of World record in three fields including sanitation and cleaning, traffic plan and mob management and paint your city. Representatives of the world record book visited the Mela and observed the three days Mela administration. They have handed over three certificates to the Mela Authority in this regard. For the First time President, Vice President, Prime Minister, Union Ministers of the country, Governors and Chief Ministers and State Ministers of different state governments not only visited the Kumbh but also took holy dip at Sangam. Similarly representatives of 72 countries put their national flags at Kumbh and more than 3500 representatives from different countries visited the Mela. Thousands of Non Resident Indians also visited the Kumbh and took holy dip. Prime Minister of Mauritius with his wife also visited the Kumbh and took holy dip and met saints and Sears.
Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Shri Amit Khare also visited the Prayagraj Kumbh and took holy dip. He also visited the camps of All India Radio and Doordarshan and high tech exhibition of BOC set up at the Mela on the lives of Father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel.
Sunil Shukla/Prayagraj Kumbh
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Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports
Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan Panaji Organizes District Level Yuva Utsav
For last 50 years, Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan has been doing great work to provide youth with encouragement and support says Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant
Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan Panaji organizes Cleaning drive as part of Nation wide Mega Cleaning Drive under Clean India 2.0
19th October 2022
Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan , Panaji under the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports organized a day long district level Yuva Utsav  today in Sankhali. The event was inaugurated by Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant. The festival saw various competitions such as poetry writing, folk dance, elocution and painting. The festival also saw a Yuva Samvad being organized, which is a platform for youth to commemorate 75 years of Indian Independence.
Addressing the gathering, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant lauded Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Anurag Thakur for his innovative thinking. The Nation wide district level youth festival is being celebrated on his appeal, said Chief Minister. Being a member of NYKS himself in his youth, Sawant appreciated the work done by the organization to encourage and support youngsters, ever since its inception in 1972. He observed that the youth of the country have a major role to play in developing ‘Nav Bharat’ or New India.
Ahead of the inauguration of the festival, in association with Government Higher Secondary School Sankhali, NYKS also organized a cleaning drive as part of the Nation wide mega cleaning drive launched by Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, Anurag Thakur. National Service Scheme  volunteers from the school participated in the cleanliness drive. The drive was also flagged off by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant.
Also present at the event were, Goa Arts and Culture Minister Govind Gawde, Director of Sports and Youth Affairs, Ajay Gawde, Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan Panaji Deputy Director Kalidas Ghatwal, Goa University NSS Coordinator Dr.Nitin Sawant and other dignitaries.
Prime Minister's Office
PM Modi praises retired army officer for supporting destitute animals
Major Pramila Singh  arranged food and treatment of the animals from her savings
Your initiative is a source of inspiration for society, wrote the PM
This unprecedented crisis is difficult for animals also and we need to be sensitive towards their needs and pain: PM
The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi has written a letter to Pramila Singh, a resident of Kota, Rajasthan who retired as a Major from the Indian Army, praising for her kindness and service. During the lockdown in Corona, Major Pramila Singh, along with her father Shyamveer Singh, took care of the helpless and destitute animals, understood their pain and came forward to help them. Major Pramila and her father arranged for food and treatment of the stray animals roaming on the streets with their personal deposits. While praising Major Pramila, Prime Minister Modi has described her efforts as an inspiration for the society.
The Prime Minister wrote in the letter, 'In the last almost one and a half years, we have faced unprecedented situations with fortitude. This is such a historical period that people will not forget for the rest of their lives. This is a difficult period not only for humans but also for many creatures living in close proximity of humans. In such a situation, it is commendable for you to be sensitive to the pain and needs of destitute animals and to work with full potential at the individual level for their welfare.’
At the same time, Prime Minister Modi said in the letter that in this difficult time, many such examples have been seen which have given us a cause to feel pride in humanity.The Prime Minister expressed hope that Major Pramila and her father will continue to inspire people with their work by spreading awareness in the society with their initiatives.
Earlier, Major Pramila Singh had written a letter to the Prime Minister informing that the work of taking care of animals, which she started during the lockdown, is still continuing. Expressing the pain of helpless animals in the letter, she appealed that more people should come forward to help them.
Ministry of Railways
Railways to Participate in Weightlifting National Championships to retain the title
Championship Will be Held at Bhubaneswar from 19th to 31st MARCH, 2022
Sr. National Weightlifting Championships - 2021-22 will be held at Bhubaneshwar  from 19.03.2022 to 31.03.2022. Railway Sports Promotion Board , the sports arm of Indian Railways  will be sending a strong contingent from Indian Railways in this Championship. Indian Railways Men team has been winners in the National Weightlifting Championships continuously for last 04 years and Railways Women team have been winners in the last 02 National Championships.
It is well known that Indian Railways is one of the largest organizations in the country which provides employment to the sportspersons and Railway Sports Promotion Board as a part of its sports promotion activities and with the motive of “Jahan Khel Wahan Rail” develops sports infrastructure for providing world class training and facilities to not only IR sportspersons but also to the sportspersons of the country for improvement of their sporting skills and for polishing their talent. With approximately 10000 sports employees including around 3000 actively involved in sports activities, IR is largest employer of men and women sportspersons in the country.
It is also a matter of records that Indian Railways sportspersons have played an excellent role in bringing laurels to the country at the International platforms. Be it Commonwealth Games, Asian Games or the Olympics, IR sportspersons have a large contribution in performance of India.
Indian Railways have produced star weightlifters like Ms. S. Mirabai Chanu, who brought silver medal for the country in the Tokyo Olympics 2020 and became the first ever weightlifter from India to win a silver medal at Olympics, Arjuna awardees like Mr. Sathish Sivalingam, Ms Renu Bala, Ms. Sanjita Chanu and many more.
Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
Cabinet approves MoU between India and Bhutan on Cooperation in the areas of Environment
The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval for signing the Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of the Republic of India and the Royal Government of Bhutan on Cooperation in the areas of Environment.
Details:
The Memorandum of Understanding will enable establishment and promotion of closer and long-term cooperation between the two countries in the field of environment protection and management of natural resources on the basis of equity, reciprocity and mutual benefits, taking into account the applicable laws and legal provisions in each country.
Keeping in view the bilateral interest of both sides and mutually agreed priorities, a Memorandum of Understanding covering the following areas of environment has been considered:
• Air;
• Waste;
• Chemical Management;
• Climate Change;
• Any other areas jointly decided upon.
This Memorandum of Understanding shall enter into force on the date of signature and shall continue to remain in force for a period of ten years. The Participants intend to encourage organizations, private companies, government institutions at all levels and research institutions on both sides to establish cooperation activities aimed at fulfilling the objectives of the Memorandum of Understanding. The Participants also intend to hold Joint Working Group / bilateral meetings to review and analyze the progress of activities and shall keep their respective Ministries/Agencies, duly informed of progress and achievements.
Major Impact including Employment Generation Potential:
The Memorandum of Understanding shall facilitate exchange of experiences, best practices and technical knowhow through both public and private sectors and shall contribute to sustainable development. The Memorandum of Understanding provides the possibility for joint projects in areas of mutual interest. However, no significant employment generation is envisaged.
Expenditure:
The financial implications of the proposed Memorandum of Understanding are limited to holding of the bilateral meetings / Joint Working Group meetings which shall meet alternatively in India and Bhutan. The sending side shall bear the travel cost of their delegation while the receiving side is to meet the cost of organizing the meetings and other logistic arrangements. These are the limited financial implications of the proposed Memorandum of Understanding.
Background:
A Memorandum of Understanding  was signed between the Central Pollution Control Board , Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change  of the Government of the Republic of India and the National Environment Commission  of the Royal Government of Bhutan on 11th March, 2013. This MoU expired on 10th March, 2016. Noting the benefits of the earlier MoU, both sides have decided to continue cooperation and collaboration in the field of Environment.